Pearlies
The Pearlies is the collective term for the Pearly Kings and Pearly Queens , which form a traditional charity in London .
The tradition of pearlies goes back to the 19th century. The tradition was founded by Henry Croft, a street sweeper who took up the fashion of the street vendors ("costermongers") of sewing mother-of-pearl buttons on the legs of their trousers. Croft sewed such buttons on his suit to draw attention to his charitable collections.
A first organization of pearlies was founded at the beginning of the 20th century. Today there are three groups of pearlies. The Original London Pearly Kings and Queens Association , the London Pearly Kings and Queens Society and the Pearly Guild .
Henry Croft died in 1930 and a memorial originally erected in St Pancras and Islington Cemetery is now in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields . St Martin-in-the-Fields is the church that the Original London Pearly Kings and Queens Association selected as their church and where they hold a charity festival every fall. The London Pearly Kings and Queens Society has selected St Paul's Church in Covent Garden as their church.
